Contents

Ahn Hee-yeon was born on May 1, 1992, in Seoul, South Korea, but her family and friends all called her Hani from a young age.[1] She competed in triathlons from elementary until middle school, and was also an avid swimmer.[2]

Prior to her debut with EXID, she was originally set to debut as a member of a girl group under JYP Entertainment, along with Sistar's Hyolyn, Secret's Song Ji-eun and Bestie's Uji. However, she was cut from JYP after a year. Hani stated that the company did not see potential in her. Following this, she went to study abroad in China for a year.[3][4] She has an IQ score of 145. Hani once aspired to study psychology and become a psychologist.[5]

EXID officially debuted on February 15, 2012 with the release of their debut single, "Whoz That Girl".[6]

In February 2013, Hani and EXID member Heo Sol-ji formed the duo Dasoni[7] and released their debut single "Goodbye" on February 15, 2013. The single also included the song, "Said So Often".[8]

In August 2014, EXID released their single "Up & Down". Initially, the song charted poorly, failing to make it on the top 100 of the Gaon Chart. However, the song slowly gained popularity in late November after a fan-taken video of her performing the song went viral.[9][10] As of 2018, the video has been viewed more than 26 million times on YouTube.[11]

In 2016, Hani became the co-host of Baek Jong-won's Three Great Emperors.[21] In February 2016, she appeared on King of Mask Singer as "Little Match Girl", a get-up completed with a mask and costumes to hide her identity. Hani surprised the panel of judges and an audience with her rich and husky voice (mostly due to the higher vocal range used as a vocalist in EXID).[22] Hani defeated Kim Feel and Jo Hang-jo but she was subsequently defeated by the Mask King at the time, Ha Hyun-woo of Guckkasten. Nevertheless, Hani's performances attracted attention and recognition for her unique vocal and passion for singing.

On January 12, 2017, it was announced that f(x)'s Luna, Hani, and Mamamoo's Solar would release a collaborative dance song on January 19, produced by Park Geun-tae, who also wrote EXO's Baekhyun and Miss A's Suzy's duet "Dream".[23] It was later revealed that the song's title is "Honey Bee", and is of the pop soul genre, incorporating 808 bass and saxophone.[24] On January 19, the song "Honey Bee" was officially released at Mystic Entertainment's YouTube channel.